Judge orders release of Hawaii yoga teacher accused over death of twin sister

A Maui judge is ordering the release of a woman accused in the death of her twin sister after finding there's no probable cause for a murder charge.

Court records show Judge Blaine Kobayashi ordered the release of Alexandria Duval during her preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Ms Duval, who changed her name from Alison Dadow, intentionally caused the death of her sister when she allegedly drove them off a cliff last week.

Anastasia Duval, whose previous name was Ann Dadow, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 37-year-old sisters were traveling on Hana Highway when their Ford Explorer crashed into a rock wall last week, plunging 200 feetCredit:
AP

Witnesses told police they heard them arguing before the crash and that the passenger was pulling the driver's hair.

Ms Duval's defense attorney, Todd Eddins, is now trying to bail her out.

Mr Eddins says she's still in custody because of charges related to a previous arrest involving disorderly conduct.

The identical twin sisters always lived together, played together and worked together, operating what were once two of the hottest yoga studios in the Palm Beach, Florida, area.

They would finish each other's sentences, and while they had boyfriends, their relationship seemed to come first.

The twins worked together as yoga instructors

But after a reality TV project fell through, the two descended into a cross-country spiral of business failures, debts, arguments and drunken run-ins with the law that all came to a tragic end last week.

That was when their SUV plunged off a 200-foot cliff in Hawaii during what was described as a hair-pulling fight over the steering wheel.

Anastasia, 37, was killed, and Alexandria was arrested and jailed on second-degree murder charges, accused of deliberately causing her sister's death.

Mr Eddins says his client wants to travel to upstate New York in time for her sister's funeral.